ESPE Abstracts

Aim: To uncover a feasible tumor expression prognostic signature and potential therapeutic targets for children with pACT.Methods: Tumor RNAseq from 53 pACT children (70% girls, median age: 1.7yrs) was performed (Illumina). Using a robust, state-of-the-art, differential gene expression analysis pipeline, differentially expressed genes (DEGs: adjusted P<0.05 and |log2 fold-change|>1) were identified (DESeq2...

Introduction: Hypochondroplasia is a rare genetic growth-related condition primarily caused by FGFR3 variants that lead to decreased endochondral bone growth, disproportionate short stature and other medical complications. It shares pathogenetic and phenotypic similarities to achondroplasia. Outside of Japan, there are no approved pharmacological treatments for hypochondroplasia. Vosoritide, a C-type natriuretic peptide analog, is an approved first-in...

Background: The term congenital hypothyroidism was introduced more than 60 years ago when Radwin et al. first described children with hypothyroid-associated features of severe intellectual disability and growth retardation. It is the most common endocrine congenital disorder and preventable cause of mental retardation. Newborn screening programs are an efficient tool for the secondary prevention of mental retardation associated with untreated congenital hypothyroidism...

Background: Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a rare genetic disorder characterized by hyperphagia and abnormal behaviours towards food for both of which no approved treatment is available. Elevated plasma acylated ghrelin (AG) documented at all ages in PWS suggest that the ghrelin system may contribute to the pathophysiology of hyperphagia. Administration of unacylated ghrelin and 8-amino acid analog AZP-531 prevents AG-induced food consumption in animals and improves glucose co...

SHOX haploinsufficiency (SHOX-D) is a cause of disharmonic short stature and a possible genetic cause of idiopathic short stature also in familial cases. We describe clinical, hormonal and genetic characteristics of patients with SHOX-D haploinsufficiency, followed and treated in the period 2014–2017, in a single Italian centre. The Rappold score was used to screen short children, to select those who needed a genetic analysis of SHOX gene by MLPA and sequencing. We select...

We report the case of a seven-year-old boy, unicogenised child, born at 33w, PN 1,540 Kg, (APGAR 8-10), hospitalized in neonatology unit for 30 days, invasive respiratory assistance was not necessary. At birth evidence of hypospadias with penile incurvation, oval fossa pervia, corpus callosum agenesis. Normal male karyotype. For positivity to screening for IC (in-situ normal thyroid), started L-Thyroxine therapy. When he was six the phenotype showed broad forehead, down-slant...

We report a case of a 10-year-old girl born at 41st week and spontaneous birth, in therapy with analogous GnRH for idiopathic central puberty. At 4 years bilateral thelarche, performed first and second level investigations and recives diagnosis of early idiopathic central puberty. Since then, therapy with triptorelin 3.75 mg i.m every 21 days was administrated. Regular checks, good compliance, and response to therapy. At 10 years old recurring episodes of headache and vertigo....

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) is the master hormone regulating the reproductive axis and its pulsatile secretion is crucial for puberty onset and fertility. Disruption in GnRH neuron development or hypothalamic function can lead to absent or delayed puberty (DP) due to GnRH deficiency, with a phenotypic spectrum from severe delayed puberty to partial or complete Hypogonadotropic Hypogonadism (HH). HH can also be present as a shared trait with other neurodevelopmental d...

Background: Silver Russell syndrome (SRS) is a rare imprinting disorder with prenatal and postnatal growth retardation and feeding difficulties. The main molecular causes are loss of methylation of the 11p15.5 imprinting control region (H19/IGF2) and maternal uniparental disomy of chromosome 7. Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a complex neurodevelopmental imprinting disorder with neonatal muscular hypotonia, failure to thrive to insatiable appetite, sho...

Introduction: Previous studies showed that non-obese children and adults with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) have a low frequency of metabolic syndrome (MetS), while obese ones have a frequency similar to that of non-PWS obese. It is known that individuals born small for gestational age (SGA) have a greater predisposition to the development of MetS. Recent neonatal percentiles of subjects with PWS (Salvatoni et al, Am J Med Genet Part A, 2019) documented...